TOWARDS THE SUMMIT:  My Up-Hill Learning Journey Involving the Development and Implementation of Digital Literacies – EDCI 572 Blog Reflection #1

INTRODUCTION:

(Photo By Eric Muhr – Unsplash)

Some of my greatest achievements involved pushing myself, both physically and mentally to the summit of various mountains.  Whether it be trail running, small hikes or multi-day hikes, I found myself forced to deal with various emotions, including initial excitement, nervousness, full-on trepidation, frustration, and finally exhilaration as I reached the summit ultimately conquering my goal. As I had time to reflect on our first meeting in EDCI-572, I realized that this course, and indeed the master’s program itself, are very much like working one’s way to the peak of a mountain, to me anyway. You start at the base and work hard to reach the top. It is the space between these two locational points where the learning process occurs; it is where my personal challenges involving questioning, gaining knowledge, developing new skills, and problem-solving will lead to the top of the mountain, or in this case, project completion with a wealth of new skills and understanding to be carried forward. 

DIGITAL LITERACIES & MY COMPETENCIES: 

Prior to our initial class meeting, I was very excited, much like the anticipation of going out for a trail run or hike. My knowledge of digital literacy, or “…the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create and communicate information requiring both cognitive and technical skills,” as described by the American Library Association’s Digital-Literacy Taskforce (Heitin, 2016, P. 1) is limited, suffice to say I am at the base of the mountain. Therefore, having the opportunity to gain more knowledge and learn new skills to incorporate into my teaching practice, thus enhancing and facilitating student learning, is both exciting and important to me. My repertoire of digital literacy competencies, to this point, includes WordPress, Twitter, PowerPoint, Prezi, Photostory, My Blueprint, YouTube and Kahoot. 

WordPress and Twitter were relatively new platforms to me, prior to starting my masters. Although I had taken some professional development workshops on these platforms, I rarely had time to play around with either and develop my skills. Now, having actually made time, and having the support to assist with my questions, has given me confidence in using both platforms and the interest in continuing to learn about them. Furthermore, I can see the relevance of them in terms of my teaching practices for communication purposes, such a class website or class-specific Twitter handle, to provide further information on a discussed topic and to promote student dialogue. PowerPoint, although often considered antiquated by some, can and still is highly effective. Personally, I find its user-friendly layout and the realm of additions that can be added to deliver and share, enables learners to easily and successfully prepare for a variety of learning activities. Prezi and PhotoStory are also digital literacy tools, similar to PowerPoint, and have provided my learners with a multitude of learning and sharing options that they can use to build repertoires, including, but not limited to, portfolios and subject/topic-specific presentations. 

My Blueprint is a digital tool that I use heavily within my Careers courses. This platform lines up very well with the course requirements for Career Life Exploration -10 and Career Life Connections 12 as set forth by the BC Ministry of Education. The program is very user-friendly and provides learners with a wealth of connections and support, including various post-secondary schools and training options, course requirements, identifying their knowledge skill set, motivations and personality in terms of their connections to careers. Furthermore, MyBlueprint can be used to create and store student portfolios. 

YouTube, as a digital literacy tool, provides a wealth of information, it is a visual library that enables learners, and even myself, to have quick access to gain an understanding of what, how, or why something exists, happens, or steps needed to complete a specific task. Furthermore, employing YouTube as a digital literacy tool provides the opportunity to teach learners about searching for reputable sources and if what they are viewing is actually true.

Lastly, Kahoot is a favourite amongst the learners in my class (and Andrew Vogelsang who comes over to compete). Learners enjoy the interactive gaming aspect when used as an introduction to a specific topic or as a review. All of the aforementioned digital literacy tools that I have adopted into my teaching practice are incorporated to provide learners with a variety of opportunities to develop their skills in communication, creation, research, and personal evaluation. Although I know that the digital tools I have implemented are a sound base, they have only taken me partway up the mountain. There is much more exploration, and learning of new skills to be done, regarding developing and implementing digital literacies into the curriculum to enhance my learners’ journey.

MY JOURNEY MOVING FORWARDS:

(Photo By Mathew Sleeper – Unsplash)

As I continue to climb towards the summit, I will be working on developing digital literacy skills needed to develop a documentary that Gary, Andrew and myself will be creating, and eventually adding to our final master’s project. Areas that the three of us will be incorporating into creating our documentary, include initial planning, storyboarding, recording, editing and producing the final cut. Through this process, I will have the opportunity to learn to use various pieces of recording and equipment, and how to make our documentary accessible in various formats. 

By: Deirdre Houghton

Reference:

Heitin, L. (2016, November 8). What Is Digital Literacy? Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2016/11/09/what-is-digital-literacy.html?printer=1